Writ Maintainable Against Co-op Society If Employee's Termination Results From Statutory Registrar's Directive: Uttarakhand High Court

The Uttarakhand High Court has held that a writ petition challenging termination of service by a cooperative society would be maintainable where the termination is founded upon directions issued by the Registrar or an authority exercising statutory powers under the Cooperative Societies Act. The Court observed that in such a case, the writ petition cannot be treated as being directed only against the action of the cooperative society.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Manoj Kumar Gupta and Justice Subhash Upadhyay was hearing an intra-court appeal against an order of a Single Judge dismissing a writ petition as not maintainable. The appellant, who was working as an Assistant in a cooperative society, had challenged an order issued by the District Assistant Registrar, Cooperative Societies, directing the society to cancel his appointment and fix responsibility upon those who had facilitated payment of salary to him. He had also challenged the consequential order passed by the society terminating his services in compliance with the directions issued by the District Assistant Registrar.

The Single Judge had dismissed the writ petition as not maintainable, holding that a Primary Cooperative Society is not "State" within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution. Before the Division Bench, the appellant contended that the foundation of his termination was the order passed by the District Assistant Registrar in exercise of statutory powers and, therefore, the writ petition was maintainable.

The Court noted that the services of the appellant had admittedly been terminated on the basis of directions issued by the District Assistant Registrar purportedly exercising powers of the Registrar under the Uttarakhand Co-operative Societies Act, 2003.

It observed that one of the issues arising in the writ petition was whether those directions were within the ambit of the authority's powers under the Act and whether the exercise of such power was valid in the facts and circumstances of the case. According to the Court, that aspect could certainly be examined in writ jurisdiction and, therefore, the writ petition could not be said to be directed only against the action of the cooperative society.

“… one of the issues, which arose before the learned Single Judge was whether the directions issued by respondent no.3 was within the ambit of his power under the Act and whether the exercise of the power, in the facts and circumstances of the case, was valid or not. The said aspect can definitely be examined by the writ court…,” the Court observed.

Holding that it was unable to subscribe to the view taken by the Single Judge, the Division Bench allowed the appeal and set aside the order dismissing the writ petition as not maintainable.

Case Title: Sudhir Chaudhary v. State of Uttarakhand & Ors. [Special Appeal No. 233 of 2026].

Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (UK) 66

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